The Treehouse

Consider the Lilies part 1 and My Garden block 8

After I had sworn not to begin anymore BOMs until something was completed, I happened across Val Laird's lovely BOM called Consider the Lilies and was instantly smitten! I could have used stash but...I'd been looking for a reason to buy some of the lovely Robin Pandolph fabric! It took a while to arrive and I was in the middle of making the birthday pillow when it finally landed so it had to patiently await some attention. This is the first part of block 1, the 2nd part was released on 15th February so I have time to get on track with this one before part 3 is available.

I also managed to get the stitching and borders done on the 8th My Garden block - definitely one of my favourites. Only one block left of this quilt to arrive now - I don't think it will be too long before it's here. The new button club begins in April I think - with a Christmas theme! I'll be getting mine from Bev at Fobbles again, hopefully with some fabric.

We've two discs left to watch in our week long marathon of 24 -season two viewing...no wonder I got so much stitching done this week! I took a break last night and did some sock knitting for a change.

It's another self patterning yarn, this time in my favourite colour :D there is nothing quite like the feel of hand knitted socks - shop socks although a fraction of the price and far less time consuming just don't come anywhere near this level of comfort!

Friday Night Sew In

Tonight's the night!

I've been contemplating what to sew tonight for the last few days - I've plenty of things that I'm working on at the moment to choose from however, I was struck by the knitting bug last Sunday...it usually hits me in the Autumn. I've already finished knitting a pair of socks this week and I had another ball of sock wool so started knitting that up straight away...it's a gorgeous green. I'm going to start knitting a cardigan tonight though - I think it will be quite quick to knit and the wool is very, very pretty - it only arrived in the post yesterday and I can't wait to start knitting it up. Yesterday at Thursday Threads I saw another wool that I liked very much in very autumny shades so I shall be on the lookout for some of that once I've finished playing with this pretty wool.

I couldn't find this anywhere locally so bought it off the internet, from a shop that's new to me but which provided excellent service - Woodland Yarns. I ordered the wool late on Tuesday night, it was posted on Wednesday and when I got in yesterday lunchtime I had a card to go and collect it from the Sorting Office. 

 

Christmassy post...

I meant to post about my lovely post arrival yesterday. I received a lovely parcel of Christmas goodies from Janey as part of the Very Quick Christmas Fabric, Buttons and Trim swap organised by Jenny - isn't it all festive and lovely? I've plans to make some Christmas tree ornaments with the fabric I think...and those cute little Santas.

 

I'm sure every crafter is the same...stuff expands to fit the space available. I have my own sewing/crafting room but yet what do we find on the sofa? A little pile of craftyness :o

 

Proof that the cardigan is ongoing although the fact that it's covered up by a Dear Jane block in progress doesn't really bode well for its completion.

Neither does this...

 

While it isn't the one that I've been having trouble with...it is the one that I've been longing to make since I bought it. It was one of the first three that I bought I think and I kept looking at all those points and thinking...Nooooooooooo, I'll mess it up. Helen does say in the pattern that you can do it with fusible web but...I wanted mine to have that needle turned edge finish and so I kept leaving it.

After yesterday's little success courtesy of the Piece of Cake dvd I'm ready to dive in and try it! I really should fix up the other block first but I want to redo the birdies on it and I've not enough blue fabric left so...if I complete a couple more blocks then I might have sufficient scraps left to give my birds a makeover :)

Tweet tweet...

Yesterday, in between building a shed and various child social engagements I made this cute little fella.

 

Super easy to make from a pattern by Melly & Me called Messenger Birdies. I'm envisioning a whole flock of cute avian-ness adorning my sitting room at Christmas time! I've not done him much justice really with the terrible photo - I'll have to improve on that when he's got some little friends to keep him company.

In knitting news - the second front of the cardigan is finished and I've done one row of a sleeve - not much time for knitting this weekend. I had wanted to wear this cardigan on my birthday but that's just not going to happen, lol!

In shopping desires - I am in great need of a Cricut Gypsy, Winter Woodland cart and the new snowman cart. I may have to speak nicely to Santa!

Wool Gathering...

I'm definitely making progress on the yarn stash - I had a very woolly weekend! The cardigan is coming along nicely - the back and one front are finished and the second front is underway. Early last week I finished the first sock and got the second one going...felt a bit guilty about the cardigan at that point so switched to that! The cardigan looks lovely but doesn't make for particularly interesting knitting (they're good projects to do while watching the tele!) so I made a start on crocheting a matching scarf with some lovely, soft merino wool that I discovered lurking in the same box as the cardigan wool.

 

The pattern for the scarf is a ripple pattern that I found on the Attic 24 blog The pattern is super easy - lots of trebles, I love those! I had been saving that particular pattern to make a large blanket with but decided that a scarf would be a nice way to test out if I could do it or not. It's a gorgeous pattern and once the scarf is done I will definitely start on the large blanket...the blanket may take a while though!

Feeling the need to get back to needle and thread for a little while now :)

What sort of crafter are you?

Are you the sort that starts and finishes a project before moving on to another one? Or are you the type that has a gazillion things on the go at once?

I am type 2!

I think the only crafting area that I cover where there is currently no activity whatsoever is scrapping...and cardmaking but maybe cards don't count as I've currently been pondering over a Christmas card design!

In knitting - I have the stripey cardigan on the go and of course, my Fair Isle type socks. The cardigan was flourishing due to the great error on the socks. Last Sunday night I took the sock and ripped it right back and now it's grown tremendously :D

In crochet - there is a granny square blanket on the go, and I'm contemplating a ripple blanket

In patchwork - the lovely Tail Feathers is on the go, the Quilt Aid quilt is on the go, Matthew's quilt needs its quilting finishing off and Catherine's quilt needs putting together. I'm starting my Dear Jane quilt this month :blush: and I've just commenced some place mats :double blush: I'm sure there's more but I'm embarrassed enough already!

In needlework - well, countless applique projects plus a lovely little pattern called Geranium Cottage - couldn't resist that, I love Geraniums you see.

Here's this week's progress anyway - as you can see, the sock is nearly done, the cardigan is getting there...almost up to the arms and that's my second Quilt Aid block being blanket stitched.

Now...if I could just locate my tape measure I would know for sure how much more sock and cardigan I need to knit!

Weekend Yarn Tales

I had a bit of a fling with yarn at the latter part of last week and it lasted well into the weekend. I knitted another one of those fab little scarves - this one's for Catherine, she likes black and this was as black as I could find in that yarn. I fell in love with some gorgeous lime green wool at the shop last Friday and came home to hunt out a pattern. While hunting under the bed and discovering said pattern I discovered some long abandoned Twilley's yarn - it's really pretty, I don't know why I've not knit it into something before now! Fortunately, I was overcome with guilt and it's now on its way to becoming a cardigan :D (and when I've used it all up I can allow myself to buy the lime green wool if its still in stock). I've another ball of scarf wool to knit up yet...I'm hoping that the lime green wool doesn't sell out because this scarf will co-ordinate beautifully with it should I ever buy it!

The sock you see there is in the process of having its heel turned, I was doing very well with that until I made the mistake of doing some while a child was present...oops! Some undoing required there now which will wait until the weekend. I'm busy finishing off this month's Tail Feathers block. This has been a really quick one to stitch and soooo pretty. Next week I'll be catching up on the little blocks that go around the edge of the quilt and then I'll be all up to date in plenty of time before the next month's kit arrives :D

Tail Feathers and Fun Yarn...

Last weekend I finished off block 3 of my tailfeathers quilt - number 4 is half stitched so I am well and truly up to date with that again now. Next week I intend to crack on and increase the number of little log cabin squares for it.

I know there is a border missing off the right hand side - the silly person who did the cutting out wasn't paying proper attention when she did it and cut those long borders 1" too short! Fortunately, the girls at Buttonberry are super accomodating and are going to include a green map print in my next month's supply :D That will teach me to cut out in a rush just before I go on holiday won't it!

I had a little trip up to my local thread/yarn shop this morning for some embroidery silks that I need for one of my stitcher's angel projects. Of course, it's not possible to come away with just 2 embroidery silks is it? No! There was some woolly goodness hanging up in the shop and I had to bring some home with me. One skein knits up a scarf...on needles that are reminiscent of chairs legs! Huge fun and only took me an hour to complete it...I will be making more of these I think :D